


Coffee and Art

by Tabathie



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Also Sans has a girlfriend., An abusive girlfriend, And doing stuff, Anti-monster bullshit, But I promise Sans will be in this. xD, Do not corrupt him, F/F, F/M, He just works in a lab, He's super smart, I have a bit of a headcannon for Paps, I promise this is a Sans X Reader, Papy headcannon is explained in chapter 7, Papyrus is a cinnamon roll, Reader Is Not Chara, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader has bad anxiety, Reader has mild depression, Reader hides stuff behind jokes, Reader is also a barista part-time, Reader is an artist, Reader is named, Reader's family is kinda separated and doesn't like each other all the time, Sans may not come in til a while, So he's like there to supervise a lot, So he's rarely home, This is mostly for my own enjoyment, reader is female, reader needs help, reader swears
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-06 01:16:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11590005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabathie/pseuds/Tabathie
Summary: Katrina is just an artist living with her brother, when he isn't in college, and works part-time as a barista for her friend's cafe. She makes coffee art for patrons which leads her to meet a tall goofy skeleton and his friends, along with his pun-loving brother.Updates whenever I get motivation to write, but hopefully every other day or something along those lines.(The reader is named and gendered but feel free to change it in your mind if you prefer it to be you and/or a different gender. It's just a lot easier for me to write a named and gendered character. :3 )





	1. Coffee is Good for the Soul

**Author's Note:**

> So this is basically for my own personal enjoyment. Katrina is literally me, cept she's older and shit because I'm just an awkward 16 year old. :3 
> 
> Anyways, I've been itching to write something and this is what I came up with. (I would write my other story and I have ideas but the words aren't flowing through me and I don't wanna write a shitty chapter). Plus I just kinda wanted to write this as a thing I've just been wanting to write because it'll just be my personality, which is shit but I still love it and love writing it.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it.

I’m woken up by one of cats smacking my face repeatedly. I grunt and turn my head away from him just to get a face full of fuzz from my other cat who is sleeping beside me. She moves a bit and stretches before turning her head and yawning in my face, assaulting me with her disgusting breath. My eyes open and I glare between the two of them. “You planned this you little fucks. Where is your bro-”

Im cut off by my last cat, climbing up and settling down on my chest, purring loudly without me touching him. He starts to claw my skin, my tank top that I wear to bed having rided down a bit, showing about half of my bust. I yelp in pain as he manages to claw my nipple through the fabric. I pick him up and put him down to the right of me before sitting up. “All you cats are fucking dicks.” I huff before pulling off my blankets and throwing my legs over the side of the bed.

Dresden, the cat that was smacking my face, comes up behind me and rubs his body against my back, purring and letting out a mew. I grab a pair of booty shorts and pull them on before standing up and walking over to my closet. I throw it open and pull out a random graphic tee and some jeans along with undergarments. I close the closet and change before brushing through my bed head and leaving the room, my cats following me.

I make my way down to the kitchen and open three cans of food before setting one down in each of the cat’s prefered place. Dresden was on top of a dresser, Crookshanks (the other male cat) was settled in the corner, and Taco (the one female cat) settled down on the chair next to me. I eat a bowl of cereal and yawn a bit before tossing the plastic dish in the sink and pulling on a coat, it was supposed to be a pretty cold day in August.

I leave the house, waving goodbye to my cats, who just ignore me and eat. I give a soft huff before shutting the door and locking it behind me. I test the lock twice before turning away and clicking my tongue. I look at my driveway and furrow my eyebrows before remembering that my brother had to take my car back to school because his broke down. I let out a sigh and job over to the bus stop and sit there, swinging my feet.

The bus comes after a few minutes and I step on, looking around. There are mainly senior citizens lining the front of the bus so I make my way back. I sit down in a free chair and let out a small sigh. There are a few monsters sitting around me, and as we continue on the route the seats start to fill up with both monsters and humans. We stop again and a woman who I can already tell has a bad attitude comes onto the bus and makes her way to the back, searching for a seat. She spots a monster near the front and glares at them. “Get up. I want to sit there.”

The monster, for one, is definitely too small to hold onto the overhead bar to keep stable, plus they seemed to be trying to do some work on a laptop. They look up and I can see a very familiar emotion pass across their face.

Pure, unadulterated panic.

The monster freezes up and the woman glare at her. “Look, monster. A human, your superior, as told you to get up out of your seat.”

Everyone around the two were staring, me included, and the bus driver is staring back, waiting for a decision to be made. The monster starts stuttering out something that I can’t hear but I can guess it’s probably them trying to ask her if she can choose another seat. The woman scoffs and opens her mouth to say something but I stand up. “Excuse me ma’am. If you’re so intent on getting a seat, you can take mine. I don’t mind.” I give her a sickeningly sweet smile.

The woman huffs and takes my seat, and I go over and stand by the monster she was harassing, holding onto the overhead bar. The small yellow monster looks at me, fearfully, and the driver, via the speakers, asks “Is everything alright?”

I nod and give him a thumbs up and he starts driving again. I look back over at the small monster. “Sorry about that. Most of my kind are assholes. You okay?”

The lizard, maybe dragon, monster looks at me before shaking her head. “I-It’s al-alright. I-I-I ap-appreci-appreciate y-you do-doing so-something.” She stutters out with a shy smile.

“Ah well, no offense meant, but you’re pretty short and I figured it would be hard for you to reach the overhead bar. Plus, you seem to be working on something.” I shrug and grip the bar with both hands. “Plus, I need ta get to work, so I would rather stand up than have to be late for work, you know?”

She nods and looks back down at her computer. “S-Still. Th-Thank you.” She says quietly.

“Anytime.” I say with a small smile.

We stay in silence the rest of the ride, but it’s mostly comfortable silence. I can feel the other woman’s stares in my back and at one point I turn and I give her my signature death glare with a wide smile, which is rather fucking creepy, and she turns away. My stop comes up and I look at the little lizard. “Well, it was nice meeting you. Hopefully we’ll meet again.” I say as I adjust my bag and wave to her, leaving the bus.

Once I step out and onto the sidewalk, I walk over to the little coffee shop/cafe that I work at. I open the door and Sarah, my friend who works the register, looks at me and sighs. “You’re late by 10 minutes.” She says disapprovingly. “But luckily we’re a bit delayed on opening.”

I raise my hands in mock surrender. “Hey, sorry. Not my fault. Bro took my car back to school and I don’t have one unless I get his fixed, so I had ta take the bus. Some biyach was telling, no… Demanding that this small yellow lizard/dragon monster to stand up so the bitch could take her spot. The monster was too short to hold the overhead bar and she was working on something so after a few minutes I gave up my seat. And thennnn I had to wait for old peeps to get off the bus and stuff so that’s why I’m late!” I wink at her and give her some jazz hands.

Sarah looks at me disapprovingly. “Kat, we’re opening in like 5 minutes. Go get ready.”

I nod and bow to her. “Of course, your highness.”

Her look remains disapproving but I spot the hint of a smile play along her lips. I smile brightly before going behind the counter and into the back room. I put away my stuff and settle my coat on a hook before taking my apron off another hook before putting it on and tying it around my waist. I pull my hair up into pigtails, my hair too short for a normal pony but too long to just keep down comfortably.

I walk back out and Sarah is at the door, waiting for me to come back before flipping the sign from closed to open and turning on the light that tells people the shop it opened. Sarah owns this shop, and it’s her and myself along with another friend who comes in when my shift ends, and someone in the back washing all the mugs and stuff if the customer is getting a drink and staying in the shop to get food as well. We don’t get many customers anyways, so it doesn’t really matter that we don’t have much staff.

I start to brew a few pots of coffee, two caffeinated, and one decaf. I check the fridge to make sure all the milk is still pretty full, and the flavor pumps are still full enough and won’t need more for the rest of the day.

Mornings, or my shifts, were always a lot busier than the afternoon. Partially because it was the morning and people got a lot of coffee to-go for their mornings, and partially because of me and the coffee art I make for people. It’s only a dollar or two depending on the complexity of the design. The extra cost was basically only a tip for me, but sometimes people give me a bit extra if they think it’s worth it. The most I ever got before was an extra five bucks.

The first few customers enter the building enter, its two monsters who come every morning at the same time, most of the time they were the first ones there. Sarah looks at them and cracks a smile, them being so common here that Sarah and the two became friends. “The usual?”

The cat monster, Catty, and the alligator monster, Bratty, smile and nod. Sarah plugs in their orders and I start working on them, mildly hearing their conversation. “We mentioned this place to a few of our friends!” I hear Catty say.

“Yeah, he is planning on coming over sometime today!” Bratty says and I can hear her smile.

“Aw, guys. You didn’t have to!” Sarah exclaims modestly, but I can hear her joy. “But thank you so much!”

“He is planning on coming in the morning because we showed him some pics of Kat’s coffee art and he wants some of the art!” My face heats up a bit at Bratty’s comment.

I look over at the two of them and manage to make a pretty identical coffee art to each of their faces (in gratitude of their compliments they tend to give me and I’ve been practicing on my own coffee for some time), before bringing over the cups and setting them down. “Here you are.” I say with a warm smile.

They both take their cups and sit down, before actually looking down at the cups. They both gasp and Catty squeals. “OMG BRATTY! SHE DREW ME!”

“OMG! SHE DREW ME TOO!” Bratty squeals almost louder than Catty.

They both get extremely excited and I wink at Sarah before going back and making myself some coffee. After the two finish their coffee, they had snapped pics of their art and posted it on all of their social media it seems, the two come back up to the counter, and each stick a five dollar bill in the tip jar. “Thank you Kat!” Bratty says.

“That was totally awesome of you!” Catty says.

I poke my head into their line of sight and flash them a smile, causing them both to blush and scurry away. Sarah shakes her head before turning to the next customer in line, and I go back to preparing the orders.


	2. No use Crying Over Spilled Coffee

Pretty much the rest of my shift goes by without many mishaps. I was almost done with my shift, the next girl, one of Sarah’s friends by the name of Joy, was helping me out some already. A tall skeleton comes into the shop followed by a frog creature. The tall skeleton walks up to the counter, Sarah having to crane her neck back to look at him. “Hello, what would you like… Sir?”

“I AM INDEED MALE! I WOULD LIKE A… HOT COCOA, AND COULD YOUR COFFEE ARTIST MAKE SOMETHING IN THE HOT COCOA OR IS IT LIMITED TO COFFEE?” His loud voice booms across the small cafe.

I jump and spill a full cup of coffee onto my apron, out of shock. Joy looks at me disapprovingly and then with worry, knowing that that coffee was piping hot. “Ow… ow.” I set the now empty mug down on the counter.

“OH SMALL HUMAN! ARE YOU QUITE ALRIGHT? DID I SCARE YOU?” I hear the skeleton ask me.

I turn to him and crack a smile. “Well, I sure have _bean_ better.”

The skeleton stares at me then stomps on the ground. “YOU HAVEN’T MET MY BROTHER HAVE YOU? HE ALREADY CORRUPTED YOU!”

I let out a small laugh and Sarah looks at me. “Kat, you think you could do art on top of this man’s hot cocoa?” There’s a bit of mirth in her voice.

“Yeah, course. I can do that.” I say with a smile. “But no, I haven’t met your brother, I’m guessing he’s a skeleton like you, and you’re the first skeleton I’ve ever seen. Well, first live one.”

I go back to the coffee machine and remake the coffee I spilled before making the cocoa. I turn to the skeleton, who is waiting by the pick up area. “What would you like, for the art that is?”

“UH, I AM NOT SURE HUMAN!” He says, fidgeting with his gloves.

“I think I have the perfect idea.” I say with a smile before drawing the skeleton in the cocoa. “Not my best work, but…” I say as I walk over to him and set down the cocoa, “I think it’s pretty great.” I smile up at him.

The skeleton looks at his hot cocoa and blinks. “THIS IS ALMOST AS GREAT AS I AM!” He exclaims.

“I bet it’s hard to get to the point where something is as great as you, huh?” I say with a smile.

“Katrina. Stop flirting with the customers.” Sarah says with a smile.

I look over at her and wink. “I have a real…” I turn to the skeleton and blink a few times, “I’m actually not going to finish that sentence.” I laugh a bit.

The skeleton is still staring at the art before looking up and smiling widely at me. He digs around in one of his pockets before pulling out a twenty dollar bill and sets it on the counter. “For you.” He speaks quietly before going to sit at a table with the frog creature, who just got a water.

I stare at the bill for a good five minutes before taking it. I walk to the back and hurriedly pull off my apron and tee shirt, swapping it for one I keep in my locker for emergencies. I hurry back out and spot the skeleton and the frog sitting at their table still, but it looked like they were about to leave. I jog over, the twenty still in hand and tap the skeleton’s shoulder. “Excuse m-me.” I say quietly. “U-Um… I-I know y-you gave th-this to me… B-but I… I can’t ta-take this. I-I really app-appreciate thi-this, but I-I seriou-seriously don’t deserve it.”

“I BELIEVE YOU DO, HUMAN! I TOOK A PICTURE AND SENT IT TO MY BESTIE AND SHE TOLD ME TO TIP YOU HEAVILY BECAUSE THE ART IS REALLY GOOD! PLUS I BELIEVE YOU DESERVE IT COMPLETELY!” He says with a big grin.

I stare at him for what is probably way too long in amazement. “Holy…” I softly say. “You’re the most precious thing on the earth. I’m going to murder whoever hurts you.” I am still staring at him with wide eyes when I say that determinedly.

The skeleton laughs and seems to turn a bit orange. “I AM COMPLETELY CAPABLE OF TAKING CARE OF MYSELF SMALL HUMAN!”

“OH! You probably have places to be! Oh my! I’m sorry for keeping you!” I thrust the bill into his hands. “I can’t accept this though! But thank you for the thought!”

I turn and basically run past the front area, taking the tips from Sarah’s outstretched hand, and run outside. That’s when I realized I left my coat in the shop and it had gotten colder as the day progressed. I shiver and blink, looking for my car before remembering that my brother has it. I huff and jog over to the bus stop again. I plop down on the bench and shiver, waiting to the bus to come.

It feels like an hour passes before the bus gets there and I climb aboard and sit down by an old lady who seems to be knitting a sweater. I’m shivering a lot due to the no coat and my not being able to tolerate heat or cold at all. The lady taps my shoulder. “Excuse me miss. Would you like a blanket?” She asks gently.

I look over at her and she produces a lilac knitted blanket from her bag before offering it to me. “O-Oh, y-yeah.” I say before wrapping myself in the blanket. “T-Thank you.” I look at the bills in my hand. “I-I’ll give it back wh-when on-one of us get-gets off.”

She smiles at me and shakes her head. “You can keep it. My children and grandchildren don’t visit anymore and I can’t send these to them. I would like you to have it if you would like it. I have too many.”

I look at her while my face flushes a bit. “O-Okay.” I say with a small smile before waiting for her to go back to her knitting and slipping ten bucks into her little bag.

She gets off a few stops after I get on and I sit comfortably, nobody sitting beside me. My stop comes up and I get off, walking to my house quietly, pulling out my keys and unlocking the door. I step inside and my three cats swarm around me and nuzzle my legs. I smile and go to the kitchen, getting some water making a sandwich. I give the cats a bit of dry food before going up to my work desk.

I plop down, the blanket still wrapped around me, and boot up my laptop. I punch in my password and scratch my cheek a bit, pulling up the browser. I hum and open Tumblr yawning and looking through the commissions that I have received. I smile a bit before pulling out my paper and starting a rough sketch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I lean back in my chair, Taco having taken residence in my lap, Dresden on top of my shelf, and Crookshanks in my bookshelf. I pet Taco and she lets out a small huff before settling back down in my lap. I roll over to my scanner and scan the art before posting it on Tumblr. I hum, roll over to my bookshelf, and grab some packing things.

Taco jumps off my lap when I roll back to my desk and package the art into an envelope with some cardboard. I sigh and check my calendar, huffing softly. “Shit, the art fair is tomorrow.” I quickly shoot Sarah a text telling her I won’t be able to make it into work tomorrow.

Sarah texts back after a little and tells me it’ll be fine because she couldn’t open the store tomorrow anyways due to a family emergency. We talked for a bit more via text before she has to leave. I sigh and grab my huge suitcase-like art supply bag from my closet.

I open up the bottom and store some prints and other signs and things. I close the bottom, after pulling Dresden out of it, and open the top, setting down a few big sketchpads, a box of pencils, a box of liners, a box of erasers, three boxes of colored pencils, and three bags of markers. I stick my compressible easel right on top before shutting the top with a bit of difficulty, there being just enough room for me to put my breakfast and lunch into it.

I roll my art suitcase thing down the stairs and down to the kitchen. I make a lunch box and set it in the fridge before making dinner and feeding my cats as I eat. They meow at me softly as I change their water and make my way upstairs with a yawn.

I fall onto my bed and turn on some soft music, plugging in my phone and haphazardly stripping. I snuggle under my blankets, Dresden settling down by my feet, Taco by my head, and Crookshanks curling up by my stomach. I pet the fluffy orange tabby, Crookshanks, as I fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda realized I never described the cats, so I'll do so here.
> 
> Crookshanks is a fluffy orange tabby with long hair.
> 
> Dresden is a short haired black cat with white on the tips of his paws and the tip of his tail.
> 
> Taco is a orange and black cat with a cute little black heart shape around her nose.
> 
> Yay.
> 
> Also I was writing this last night while listening to a horror compilation and I clicked over to the youtube tab to just check up on the video and see much longer there was and right as I clicked the tab there was a fucking jumpscare that I wasn't expecting and fucking I jumped. Then I laughed it off because what is the chance that I would freaking change tabs just to see a fucking jumpscare. I mean there were a lotta jumpscares cause it's a horror compilation but still. Just the timing was perfect.
> 
> Anyways. Comments and Kudos are always appreciated. Not saying that you have to comment or leave a kudo is you don not want to! Not going to force you!
> 
> If you see any mistakes, I checked it over in google docs so there shouldn't be any spelling errors but if like a word is missing or something then it would be much appreciated if you let me know! Cause sometimes my laptop doesn't register some of the words that I type. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


	3. The Art Fair

I wake up again from Dresden attacking my face. He’s like my little alarm clock, but cuter and impossible to snooze unless I got him his food. Which means I would have to get up anyways to get it making me wake up in the process. ‘M never late because of it!

I get up, open my closet, and look through my clothes. I huff, now noticing that all my pants are dirty. I grunt and grab a skirt and the matching shirt. The shirt is a sheer yellow blouse with long sleeves. The skirt is striped with yellow, orange, white, pale pink, dark blue, and teal. I grab a pair of white tights and pull on all my clothes, brushing through my hair with a brush. I hum and look at my shoes, pursing my lips before going for a pair of black flats.

Taco comes over and rubs against my legs, getting her fur over the otherwise pristine white tights. I huff and tuck in the shirt to the skirt, which settles on my waist, and pull out the bottom on the shirt a bit to cover the white band of the skirt with the shirt.

Dresden meows at me, and I look at him. “You think I look cute?”

He meows again.

I take it as a yes, and go downstairs. I get my cats their breakfast and eat my own before putting my lunch into my suitcase. I shove my phone in a pocket on the case before wheeling the suitcase outside and glaring at the lack of car again, groaning. I lock the door and run a hand through my hair before rolling the suitcase downtown, being close enough to walk. I yawn as I walk, getting downtown. I go to my little station, the people having already set up my table because I leave it with them so I don’t have to drag it around. I sigh and set things up, nodding at a few other people setting up around me.

I finish setting things up, and settle down in a chair. My easel is set up to my right with a pad of paper, a bucket of pencils, a bucket of liners, and my coloring mediums either on or surrounding it. I pull out a smaller sketchbook and grab a pencil from the bucket before haphazardly sketching out a character, humming softly to myself.

After a few minutes people start coming into the area. I’m near the middle of the fair and some people come up and buy a print. A couple, a fire monster and a human, ask if they could get a picture drawn of them. I nod and they sit down on the chairs provided as I sketch them out, and write down the colors. I finish the sketch and look at them. “If you want to walk around more, this will be done in like thirty minutes.” I smile at them and they nod a bit before leaving.

I smile as I watch them leave, proud of them fighting against racists. I look back to the art and refine the sketch before starting to outline it. I manage to get the sketching erased behind it without really any interruptions except people getting a few prints, but then the skeleton from the coffee shop the day befor enters my vision. On his shoulders is a child with wild brown hair, on his right is a buff fish lady with red hair, and beside her is the yellow lizard/dragon creature I had met on the bus.

I kind of hide behind my easel, nothing against them, but just not wanting to be seen, as I start to color the picture in front of me. I hear a few heavy steps come up to my table and a fist land on the table. I jump and look up at the buff fish lady I had spotted before. She has a wicked grin on her face. “Hey, punk! Thanks for standing up for my girl yesterday! Quite literally.” She says, her grin widening.

I stare at her in shocked silence for much longer than what is socially acceptable. She holds my gaze, her face turning sour at each passing minute. “OH! I’m sorry! I uh… you’re welcome!” I say in a rush. “She just seemed to be in the middle of something important so I figured I would help out.”

The yellow lizard came up, her scales turning scarlet. “U-U-Undyne!” She stutters out.

“What babe?” The fish lady, Undyne, asks, turning to the lizard.

“Y-Yo-You’re ma-making he-her an-anxious…”

Undyne looks back at me. “Oh. I just wanted to say thanks!”

I give her a small smile. “You’re welcome. Do you want to buy anything..?”

Undyne opens her mouth to say something but the skeleton from the coffee shop runs up to my table. “SMALL HUMAN! I WENT TO THE COFFEE SHOP THIS MORNING AND IT WAS CLOSED!”

“Ah, sorry bout that sir. The owner had some family stuff she had to take care of.” I smile at him.

Undyne pushes the skeletal man, with the child still riding on his shoulders, aside. “Yo! I want to get that drawing!” She points to one that I had recently done.

It’s just a character I came up with, but she’s decked out in samurai gear with a katana and looks badass as shit. I nod to Undyne and pull the print from my case. “That’ll be fifteen dollars.” I say with a smile.

Undyne stares at me. “F-Fifteen?”

“I’m willing to go lower if you don’t have that much.” I bite my lip. “I do-”

“I ONLY HAVE TO PAY FIFTEEN DOLLARS FOR THIS AMAZING PIECE OF ART!” Undyne yells before slapping a twenty and a ten in my hand. “I WOULD PAY HUNDREDS FOR THIS IF I HAD THAT MUCH!”

I blink at the money in my hand. “Uh… You gave me too much.” I pull a five out of my cash box, putting the twenty in before handing her the extra $15.

Undyne stares at me. “Y-Y-You… I’M TIPPING YOU! I DUNNO! YOUR PRICES ARE SO LOW FOR HOW MUCH TIME YOU PUT INTO YOUR PIECES!”

“That’s an artist's life. Unless you get like big companies coming for your work you can’t expect people to buy your stuff for such a high price.” I shrug a bit. “I’m technically working below minimum wage, but that’s why I have two jobs.”

I turn back and finish the coloring on my easel, it only taking a second before going in the lower corner and signing it. I set the picture to the side and look back at the four in front of my table still. “Would you like anything else?”

Undyne is still staring at me with disbelief, the lizard and looking between Undyne and myself, and the skeleton and child seem happily oblivious. The skeleton looks at me with a big grin. “CAN I GET A PORTRAIT WITH FRISK?” He asks, excitedly.

I smile warmly at him. “Of course, sir. Could you sit down in that chair so I can sketch you out?”

He nods energetically, sitting down, the kid miraculously still perched on his shoulders. I quickly sketch out the idea and write down all the color planning before looking up. “I have the sketch down, so if you would like to go search around the fair more, then it’ll be done in an hour or so.”

Papyrus gets up and looks at me. “Undyne is right, small human. Your art is worth more than what you sell it for.” The human, Frisk I believe, nods their head in agreement.

I guess those two aren’t as ignorant as they seem.

“Well, if I raised the prices too much then nobody would buy stuff. So I hafta keep the prices low enough to where it’s in people’s price ranges.”

The skeleton nods, seeming to understand before giving me a grin. “WELL! I WILL BE BACK LATER TO PICK UP MY ARTWORK!” He strikes a pose before jogging over to wherever Undyne and her girlfriend went.

I let out a small sigh before turning back to the sketchpad and starting to refine the details. I spot the fifteen dollars of change sitting at the front of my table and I take it, setting it down to the side of the art. I soon finish the piece, outlining it and coloring it, handing things to people, some of them left their change on the table and I sighed, putting into my cash box.

The couple from before came back, their arms full of goodies. The flame lady came up to me and smiled brightly. “Do you have our piece?”

I look at her before giving a small nod and holding it up. “Here. You like it?”

The woman gasps, putting her hand to her mouth, the bags in her arms shifting down. “It’s beautiful! How much was it again?”

I look at my little sheet for prices. “Mmm. $25.”

She looks at me, stunned. “Only $25?”

“Only $25.”

“That’s practically theft! From you. You put so much work into this!” She frowns.

I let out a small laugh. “I know, but I don’t expect people to pay me all that much. Such is the artist life.”

“Can I like give you more?” She looks at me, and her boyfriend comes over.

I shrug. “If you want to I’m not going to stop you. All prices are flexible.”

Her boyfriend looks at the piece before pulling out his wallet and pulling out 5 twenties. He looks at his girlfriend who nods and he hands me the money. “Here.” He says.

I blink at the amount of money and let out a laugh. “You’re kidding.”

“Not at all.” He says with a straight face.

“My art isn’t even that good.”

“Ya sure about that? You’re one of the most popular booths here.” The guy says.

I let out a breath. “I don’t want to rob you of your money.”

“It’s not robbing!” The flame elemental says. “We’re paying you for your work!”

I nod a bit and they smile at me, saying thanks, before leaving. I store the money away and sigh a bit. I spot the skeleton and human running up to the booth again, Undyne and the lizard not being around. “HUMAN! HAVE YOU FINISHED THE ART?”

“Sure have, sir.” I say with a smile and show it to him.

The skeleton gasps. “A PIECE THAT IS AS GREAT AS ME! WELL OF COURSE! BECAUSE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM IN THE PIECE!”

I smile warmly at this cinnamon roll of a skeleton. “So, your name is Papyrus?” He nods enthusiastically. “My name is Katrina. If you ever want another piece done by me you can find me on my social medias.” I hand him a card.

Papyrus enthusiastically takes the card and hops up and down, taking the piece too. “HOW MUCH?”

“Whatever you deem it to be worth. Normally they’re $25, but people have been giving me more so, just however much you want to give me, I guess.” I smile at him.

Papyrus look down at the paper and pats around for his wallet. He seems to pale a bit. “OH NO!”

The kid, Frisk, looks over at Papyrus and does some sign language. **Did you forget to grab your wallet from the last stand we went to?** I guess it came in handy to know sign language.

“IT SEEMS SO FRISK! OR MAYBE I DIDN’T HAVE MY WALLET AT ALL! YES! I DON’T HAVE IT BECAUSE I REMEMBER FINDING THAT OUT BEFORE! THEN ALPHYS AND UNDYNE PAID FOR MY THINGS AND I NEED TO PAY THEM BACK! BUT THEY HAVE LEFT!” Papyrus seems so downtrodden, his smile turning into a sad frown. “HUMAN! CA-”

“You can take it for free.” I say with a bright smile. “I made enough to cover for it, and you’re a pretty awesome dude. So you can have it. For free.”

Papyrus looks at me and his smile widens considerably. “REALLY?”

“Of course. It’s no skin off my nose.”

“OH THANK YOU SO MUCH! I WILL BE SURE TO GET SOMETHING FROM YOUR SOCIAL MEDIAS TO MAKE UP FOR IT!”

My smile widens. “Aw, thanks Papyrus.”

Frisk tugs on Papyrus’s scarf and points off to the parking lot. “OH! YES WE MUST BE GOING! GOODBYE ART HUMAN!” He says with a wave, picking up Frisk and running to the parking lot.

I let out a small laugh, shaking my head, and pack up my things, the fair ending pretty soon. I hum and get everything into the suitcase, waving to some others, walking towards the parking lot with my stuff rolling along behind me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this while in the car and also while sitting in a Five Guys after eating. Then came home and finished it up and fixed everything that needed to be fixed that I could find.
> 
> Thank you everyone who has read this/who is reading this! Thanks for the kudos and stuffs! 
> 
> I hope you guys liked the new chapter, and the story as a whole. Feel free to smack a comment down at the bottom, not that you need to. Leave a kudos if you want. I'm not going to force you! You do you!


	4. Rain Really Dampens Your Day

I continue on the track, walking home, and it starts to rain. I frown at the sky, my eye twitching a bit and the rain falling into my eye. I blink and look back down, moving a bit faster.

Then it starts to torrential downpour.

I run over to the closest place to take cover, a small shop, and enter the place. I sigh at my now soaked hair and soaked clothes. I look around the store, huffing softly at the realization that it’s a very expensive boutique. An attendant, a young lady with her long hair stylishly curled, walks up to me with a smile. “Hello, ma’am. May I help you?”

“No, sorry. I just need some cover from the rain. I don’t have a car or an umbrella at the moment.” I say with a sweet smile.

“Oh… Well… We have a policy where you need to buy a product if you stay in the store for an extended period of time.” She says, maching my sickeningly sweet smile.

“Fine.” I sigh and turn on my heel, opening the door and leaving.

The rain seems to just get harder and I feel my clothes start to stick to my body annoyingly. I sigh quietly and head to a bar of sorts, the sign reading: “Grillbys.” I open the door and wheel in my art stuff, moving to the front of the bar, sitting down and setting my suitcase beside me.

The bartender, a fire elemental, like the one I had seen just a little bit ago, comes up to me. “Hello, what would you like..?”

I look at him. “A burger and fries sound good…” I say with a yawn.

He nods and goes to the back, where I’m guessing is the kitchen. He comes back after a moment and sets a burger and some fries down in front of me. I smile at him, pulling my hair into a ponytail, to keep the water off my food, then I start to dig in.

As I eat, a person sits down on the stool beside me. I chow on the food and try not to listen to the person’s conversation, but I catch a few things. “... It’s been tough… Lab work… Yeah, grillbz… Uhuh, he’s fine… Met some human… Yeah… Says she’s nice… Likes puns… Mhmm…” I don’t catch anything from the bartender, because he’s naturally very quiet.

The other’s voice is rather deep and sexy. I feel my face flush a bit at my own thoughts and I set some bills on the table, leaving a generous tip, the food being delicious, before standing up. Grillby waves to me as I leave, and I wave back, pulling my suitcase behind me. I look back outside and it’s still pouring outside. I let out a sigh and stare at the outside.

Someone comes up by me and hands me an umbrella. They have gloves on their hands and I blink, looking at them. They’re hood is up, covering most of their face. “Here. You can take this.”

It’s the same person who was sitting beside me, judging by the voice. I eye the person, “What about you?”

“What do you mean what about me?” The voice asks.

“Well, it’s your umbrella and you’re going to need it when you leave.” I say.

“I have a shortcut I can take. Just take it.” They say and thrusts the umbrella into my hands.

I take it and sigh. “How do you expect me to return it?”

 

“Eh, I’ll figure something out. It’s a small town, I’m sure we’ll run into each other at some point.” He shrugs and goes back to the bar.

I sigh and take the umbrella, unfurling it as I step outside. There is a pattern on bones on the umbrella, and it mildly reminds me of Papyrus. I laugh a bit before walking out into the rain again.

I make it home pretty quickly and shed my shoes, sticking the umbrella on the coat rack, hanging it up. My cats come up and eye me before they all leave, not wanting to get wet. I huff and go up to my room, and set everything to the side, gathering some dry clothes and going to the shower.

I take a hot shower and change into some fuzzy clothes before going downstairs and sitting on the couch. Dresden jumps into my lap and mewls, nuzzling my chin. I look at him and scratch under his chin. Dresden starts to purr loudly and I let out a small laugh, as the other two jump up onto the couch with us. The other two settle on either side of me and I start up a movie.

The rest of the day passes by without a hitch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few days the coffee shop is closed, so I spend my days in my house. I don’t go outside for just about anything, except if I need food.

I never did manage to bring the umbrella back to its owner, but I did get Papyrus messaging me on Tumblr asking for a few commissions. So far he asked for a drawing of him and his brother, a shorter skeleton with a blue hoodie, black shorts with a white stripe, a white tank top underneath his hoodie, and a round skull. I had gotten that done along with one for Undyne and her girlfriend, and some goat people with Frisk.

He always gave me a generous tip and always sent me smiley faces with every purchase. I let out a small breath and look at his new message. It wasn’t a commission, he was asking if I had gotten an umbrella with little bone designs on it.

**Me:** Yeah, I went to a bar to escape the rain the day of the fair and someone gave me their umbrella.

**CoolSkeleton79:** THAT IS MY BROTHER’S UMBRELLA! HE SAID HE GAVE IT TO A HUMAN THE OTHER DAY AND I HAVE NEED OF IT BECAUSE I LENT MINE TO UNDYNE AND IT’S SUPPOSED TO RAIN TODAY! I NEED TO RUN OUT TO THE STORE AND MY CAR IS BEING TAKEN IN FOR SOME REPAIRS SO I NEED TO WALK THERE! IN CASE IT DOES RAIN COULD YOU MEET ME SOMEWHERE SO I CAN HAVE THE UMBRELLA?

**Me:** Yeah, of course. Where do you wanna meet?

**CoolSkeleton79:** CAN YOU MEET ME AT THE LIBRARY?

**Me:** Yep. Seeya in a few minutes?

**CoolSkeleton79:** YES! THAT WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED!

I hum softly and get up, pulling off the pajamas I’ve been wearing for the past three days and put on something comfortable. I hum as exit the door, picking up the umbrella from it’s place. I walk to the library.

I spot Papyrus standing there and I jog up to him, smiling a bit. “Heya.”

Papyrus jumps and looks at me. “OH! HELLO! I SEE YOU HAVE THE UMBRELLA!” I hand him the umbrella and he takes it. “THANK YOU!” He eyes me. “IT LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVEN’T BEEN OUTSIDE FOR A LONG TIME! WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHOP WITH ME?” He asks.

I look at him. “Y-Yeah sure. I’d like that.” I say quietly.

Papyrus’s smile turns brighter if possible. “THEN WE CAN GO TO MY HOUSE AND MAKE FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI! MY BROTHER SANS WILL BE WORKING LATE AT THE LAB TODAY MOST LIKELY NOT EVEN COMING BACK UNTIL TOMORROW NIGHT! WE CAN HAVE A SLEEPOVER! I CAN INVITE UNDYNE AND ALPHYS!”

I look at him and blink. “Yeah sure, if that’s what you want.” I smile warmly.

Papyrus grabs my arm and pulls me along with him, walking into a nearby store.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is shorter than other chapters! I wanted to put the shopping portion and the sleepover portion together because yeah. So this is shorter than the last three chapters. But the next chapter should be average length if not longer than normal.
> 
> Hopefully it'll make up for it!
> 
> Smack a comment down there or smack that kudos if you so wish! Not gonna force you! <3
> 
> You guys are the best though! Thank you for all the kudos and comments and hits! Thanks!


	5. Don't Take Katrina (or Undyne) Anywhere

Papyrus pulls me into a store filled with both monster and human goods. He grabs a cart and I end up grabbing a basket, wanting some snacks.

We walk over to the noodles first, which is a bit weird to me that he went immediately to the noodles. I shrug it off and follow behind him.

And he’s pushing about all the spaghetti noodles into his cart. I run over to him and stop him. “H-Hey. Uh. There might be other people who uh… want some spaghetti noodles.” I say quickly.

Papyrus looks at me and then grins. “YOU ARE RIGHT HUMAN!” He puts half of them back. “THERE IS AMPLE SUPPLY LEFT FOR OTHER HUMANS AND MONSTERS TO TAKE FROM NOW! THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME! MY BROTHER TENDS TO DO THAT TOO!” He grins at me. “I FEEL AS IF YOU TWO WOULD GET ALONG RATHER WELL! BUT YOU HAVE MET ONCE!”

“We have..?” I question.

“YES! HE’S THE ONE WHO GAVE YOU THE UMBRELLA!” Papyrus smiles bright and pushes the cart to the next aisle.

I follow behind him and laugh. “Right. That makes a lotta sense. It’s hard for me to put two and two together sometimes. Even though you told me it was your brother’s umbrella. From which I should’ve inferred that your brother gave it to me, seeing as you described the situation that we met…” I clap a hand against my forehead. “I’m a moron sometimes. I apologize.”

Papyrus looks over at me and his smile falls a bit. “YOU ARE NOT A MORON HUMAN! YOU WERE PROBABLY JUST BUSY THINKING OF OTHER THINGS!”

I look up at him and smile warmly. “Yeah, you’re right.” A light laugh escapes my lips and I walk to the pasta sauces. “Were you here for this?”

“NO! I CAN DOWN HERE TO GET SOME CANNED OLIVES!” He says, grabbing a can from the shelf and putting it in the cart. “MY BROTHER MAKES QUICHES SOMETIMES AND HE ADDS OLIVES! I DO NOT LIKE THEM NORMALLY BUT IN MY BROTHER’S QUICHES THEY ARE DELICIOUS!” He makes a bit of a face and looks at me.

A wide smile graces my lips and I nudge him. “Hey, your bro seems to be as great as you. Which wouldn’t be a surprise because he has you as a brother.”

Papyrus’s grin widens. “MY GREATNESS HAS TO HAVE RUBBED OFF ON MY BROTHER! I AM RATHER GREAT!” His face falls. “BUT MY BROTHER HAS FACED A LOT… AND I MISS HIM A LOT BECAUSE HE HAS TO WORK SO MUCH… SO I DON’T SEE HIM ALL THAT MUCH! SOMETIMES I HAVE TO GO TO SLEEP WITHOUT A BEDTIME STORY FROM HIM…” He looks down at his cart.

I reach over and rub his arm a bit. “Hey, you know what?”

“WHAT..?” Papyrus looks over at me.

“I’ll give you my number, and if your brother isn’t there to read you a bedtime story you can call me and I’ll read you one through the phone. I have a bunch that I read to my younger siblings before, I wouldn’t mind sharing them with you too.” I say with a smile. “Or I could send you a video of me reading. I’m not the best, but my brother and sister wouldn’t sleep without a bedtime story either. Mostly from myself, but sometimes they would let other people do it.”

Papyrus looks at me and his entire face brightens. “THAT WOULD BE GREAT! WE COULD EVEN DO THAT FACE-TIME THING SO I COULD SEE THE BOOK!”

“Yeah, if that’s what you want.” I say with a smile.

Papyrus picks me up and hugs me tightly. “Thank you so much, human. You didn’t have to do that but you did. Thank you.” His normal loud voice turns into a soft whisper.

I hug him back tightly. “It’s no problem. I love to help when needed.”

Papyrus lets me go and set me down with a big grin. I grab a small notebook from my bag and write my number down on it before handing it to the excited skeleton. He takes it with a big grin before stuffing it into his pocket. “LETS FINISH OUR SHOPPING NOW HUMAN!” He yells, now as Papyrus-y as he can be.

I smile and follow behind him as he run off to the next aisle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

We manage to finish the rest of the shopping without any mishaps. While we pay, however, the lady at the register looks at the two of us and says, “You two are such a cute couple! How long have you been dating?”

My entire face flushes red and Papyrus’s cheekbones turn an orangish hue. “U-Uh! We aren’t dating, ma’am. Just friends.” I nervously blurt out. “Hah. Yeah.”

The lady looks at me and smirks. “You sure?”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

She shrugs and goes back to bagging the items. Papyrus pays, uncharacteristically silent, and we walk out if the store to his car. “Human?” He asks quietly while I’m buckling in my seat belt.

I look over at him. “Yeah?” He stays silent. “Paps, you can tell/ask me anything.”

“Did you mean it..? That we’re friends..?” He starts to fiddle with his gloves.

I look at him and let out a small laugh. “Yeah. I see you as a friend. If you don’t wanna be my friend, that’s alright, though.”

“OH I AM SO HAPPY!” Papyrus exclaims, pulling me into an awkward hug over the middle compartment.

I pat his back gently and smile at him. He grins back at me before letting me go and turning to the wheel. I finish buckling in and Papyrus starts to drive off to where his house is.

The scenery passes, and I see my house. I blink and he drives a bit further before driving into a house about 7 houses down from my own. He gets out of the car and I follow behind him. “You know… I live like 7 houses down from here.” I tell him.

“OH! THAT IS GREAT!” Papyrus’s smile brightens. “IT LOOKS LIKE ALPHYS AND UNDYNE ARE ALREADY HERE! JUDGING BY THEIR CAR BY THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE! AND MY BROTHER’S MOTORCYCLE IS HERE! MAYBE HE GOT LET OFF EARLY!”

“Cool beans.” I say with a smile. “Mind if I run to my house really quickly and put my stuff away and feed my cats?” I ask, grabbing the few things I had picked up since we were there.

“NOT AT ALL!” Paps says and goes into his house.

I laugh a bit at the yelling that goes on inside before jogging down the street. I get to my front door and unlock it. Taco comes up to me, meowing and rubbing against my legs. I smile and pick her up, shutting the door behind me. I walk over to the kitchen and put away my foodstuffs before feeding the cats. I give all them pets before refilling their water and grabbing the candy I had got for myself. I jog upstairs and grab a change of clothes just in case I end up passing out or staying the night.

I leave my house and lock the door before jogging back to Papyrus’s house. I pant a bit and rest my hands on my knees, letting me catch my breath. I go up to the front door and go to knock before it swings open. A skeleton, who’s shorter than Papyrus, in a lab coat and glasses taped to his skull. He looks up at me and I look down at him. His grin becomes more lax and he chuckles, slipping past me.

I look over at him, and frown. “Knock Knock.”

He stops and look at me over his shoulder. His grin becomes larger. “Who’s there?”

“Nobel.” I set my hands on my hip, grinning.

“Nobel who?” His grin tells me he’s already heard this joke.

“There was no-bell. That’s why I knocked.” I say with a grin.

He lets out a chuckle. “Good one.”

“I’m guessing yo-” I start until two arms wrap around my waist and I feel myself getting picked up and then suplexed onto a couch.

“HI NERD!” I hear Undyne yell.

“H…. Hi…. HI…. Undyne… Ow…” I say, coughing into my hand. “I-I was tr… trynna tal… talk to someone…. Dick…” I huff out.

She grins and laughs out loud. “Who?”

I put my hand to my mouth and continue to cough. The suplex caused me to lose all the breath in my lungs and sending me into a bout of coughing. Along with me having breathing issues before because of my jogging, I can hardly catch my breath. My coughing fit increases and I hear some commotion, Papyrus yelling at Undyne and Alphys and the other skeleton now beside me, both trying to get me to a position where I can actually breathe.

I finally catch my breath and stop my coughing from back pats. Tears had trailed down my cheeks due to my extensive coughing and it seemed like Sans had to leave so he could get to work, but Papyrus was rubbing the tears from my cheeks. “I AM SORRY THAT UNDYNE DID THAT!” Papyrus says.

“I-I-It’s okay.” I say carefully.

Undyne comes up and crouches in front of me. “I thought it was a good idea.” She says. 

“Well… I guess now you know… It’s not a good idea?” I offer, coughing every so often. “I’m guessing the other skeleton was your brother Sans?” I ask Papyrus.

“YEAH!” Papyrus yells energetically.

I smile a bit, and rub my eyes. “He seems nice. Pretty cool. Likes knock knock jokes. Seems like a cool dude. Not as cool as you Paps.” I add.

Papyrus’s smile brightens even more, and I think I need to see his smile as bright as possible at all time. It’s a precious little thing that reminds me of my little siblings smile. “I’M HAPPY YOU THINK SO!” He exclaims in excitement. “NOW I BELIEVE IT IS TIME FOR SPAGHETTI!” He picks me up and runs to the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Met Sans.
> 
> For like five minutes. XD
> 
> Weeeeeeeeeee!
> 
> Comment/Kudos if you would likeeeeeeeeee! You guys are the bestest!
> 
> (If you find mistakes please lemme know via comment. I reread it but sometimes I don't catch my own mistakes. OwO But please tell me if you see mistakes! Thanks!)


	6. Uh... Sleepover Start?

Making spaghetti with Papyrus was an ordeal.

Lets just say by the end of the cooking session, I’m covered in spaghetti sauce and the spaghetti noodles were also kinda splattered all over me and the floor.. Paps had taken less damage due to me getting between him and the pots.

Now that I am covered in dinner, Undyne left to go get pizza.Together, Paps and I manage to get all of the noodles out of my hair and off my clothes. Papyrus then ushers me into the bathroom. “YOU CAN TAKE A SHOWER! WE HAVE ALL THE NECESSARY THINGS YOU’LL NEED TO GET CLEAN!”

I look at in him. “Thank Paps. I have some clothes in my bag, if you wouldn’t mind just bringing them to me?”

Papyrus nods and smiles brightly before closing the door to the bathroom. I eye myself in the mirror and shrug. _I needed a shower anyways_ I think before starting the water. It heats up quickly and I strip, setting my dirty clothes on the counter, vowing that I would clean it up before I left. I hop into the shower and groan softly as the hot water hits my back.

I quickly wash up, making sure to get all the sauce out of my hair and off my face, neck, arms, and legs. Once I finish I poke my head out of the shower to see a stack of clothes sitting on the toilet with a towel folded neatly on top. My dirty clothes were nowhere to be seen and the spot where they were sitting is completely clean. I pull the towel to my body and dry myself off while in the shower before stepping out of the shower and get dressed. I hum and pull my hair into a ponytail before throwing the towel over the shower curtain rod.

I step out of the bathroom, humming to myself and walking down the stairs. The scent of pizza assaults my nose and I let out an inaudible groan. I practically slide down the banister to the living room, and gracefully land at the bottom.

By gracefully I actually mean that I fell flat on my face.

It’s the same thing. Right?

After my graceful landing, I walk over to the couch and plop down on it, sitting next to Papyrus, and reaching to the table to pick up a slice of pizza, settling it on a paper plate. Papyrus hands me a soda and I take it, with a smile as a movie starts to play on the screen. Undyne and Alphys sit on the other couch, cuddling, and feeding each other pizza. I roll my eyes at the two of them before focusing on the movie.

Surprisingly, it’s a Disney classic. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was the exact movie. Papyrus seems enthralled in it, eating the pizza slowly. I lean against the arm of the couch eating my pizza and sipping the soda.

When the scene with the Evil Queen, dressed as the granny, comes to Snow White and offers her the apple, Papyrus says, “MISS SNOW WHITE DO NOT TAKE THE APPLE! IT’S A TRAP!” Then when Snow White bites into the apple Papyrus yells, “MISS SNOW WHITE! I TOLD YOU NOT TO TAKE THE APPLE! YET YOU DID! YOU SILLY GOOSE!”

I’m leaning against the couch, pressing my lips together, stifling a laugh. Paps looks at me and frowns. “SHE SHOULD’VE SEEN THAT IT WAS A TRAP!”

“Yes, but she’s a Disney princess. Most of them are kinda oblivious to the most obvious of traps.” I say, meaning no offense to any Disney princesses at all.

“I GUESS YOU DO HAVE A POINT, HUMAN! FOR IF THE FEMALE WERE TO REALIZE THAT IT WAS A TRAP THEN THE PLOT OF THE MOVIE WOULD FALL APART!” He says, picking up another slice of pizza and stuffing it in his mouth.

I nod a bit and grab another slice of the gooey, greasy, cheesy, deliciousness and eat it slowly, savoring each bite. The movie ends after a while and Paps changes it to Princess and the Frog.

We get through about five movies before I notice that Papyrus is out like a light, snoring quietly. I pause the movie, Mulan, and look at the loveseat, the other two also passed out. I let out a small breath of amusement before covering Papyrus in a blanket then the other two.

I let out a sigh before picking up around the room, quietly, and cleaning up. Once I finish with that I sit down and lean against the back of the couch, pulling my legs up to my chest. The screen of my phone glows softly as I scroll through Tumblr. The front door creaks open and I look up, making eye contact with a giggly woman, walking beside Sans.

I blink once before looking back down at my phone, scrolling through it as they walk upstairs. They ignore me so I ignore them. I hear the woman whisper something and a door open and close.

I just hope that if they’re going to fuck then they’ll do it quietly. I set my phone down and close my eyes, falling asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake up on an unfamiliar couch. My first instinct is to panic, then my second is to calm the fuck down because I just stayed over at my new friend’s house. Everything is fine. CALM YOURSELF! My third instinct is to figure out what smells fucking fantastic. I sit up, pulling the blanket off of me and walking to the kitchen.

I run into the female from the night before and I eye her, rubbing my eyes. 

It’s Joy from the coffee shop.

“Oh hey.” I say, sleepily.

“Hi, Kat!” She says joyfully.

I nod a bit and move a bit so she can slip past me and she does so, running to the upstairs. When I get into the kitchen I see Papyrus with a stack of pancakes a few feet tall next to him. He spots me and smiles brightly. “GOOD MORNING COFFEE HUMAN! I HAVE MADE PANCAKES!” He says.

“Aw, thanks Paps. That’s-” I drop my sentence when I hear a yelp from upstairs and what almost sounded like a scream. “That’s very nice of you to do.” I continue because it faded into giggles.

Paps seems to have heard the sound too because he frowns before a grin, not even close to his normal one, shows up on his face. “IT’S OKAY! I NORMALLY COOK BREAKFAST!”

I nod and look at my phone. “Shizzzzzzzle.” I groan and look up at Papyrus. “Can I take a few on the road with me? I have to go. My boss wants me to come and see her.”

Paps seems sad but nods, handing me about ten pancakes. I smile at him and take a bite, hurriedly walking to the front door and tug on my boots. I spy Sans’s door opening and Sans himself, with weird color splotches on his skull and arms. He disappears into the bathroom and I bite my lip before leaving the house, yelling a goodbye to everyone.

I quickly run to my house to feed my cats and change. I give the cats extra scratches under their chins before leaving my house and chewing my lip. I sigh and look at my phone, going to the bus stop. The bus comes and I hop on, sitting down to have a painless ride to the coffee shop.

I enter the shop and look at Sarah, who’s sitting on the counter. She look up at me when I enter, her eyes filled with tear. My motherly instincts, even though she’s older than me and I’m not a mom, kick in and I run over, pulling her into a hug. She wraps her arms around my waist, burying her face into my shoulder and sobbing.

I pull her off the counter, holding her up and rubbing her back gently. “Sarah, Sarah, what’s wrong?”

Her sobs continue and I rub her back calmingly until her sobs shutter to a stop. She moves her head a bit, sighing softly. “My mom… She died… Cancer finally took her…”

I hug her tighter. “I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase ‘I’m sorry’ enough already, so I’ll spare you from that. When’s the funeral?” I say.

“A week…” She says, sniffling.

I nod and press a kiss to the top of her head. “Do you wanna come see the kitties?”

She nods and hugs me tighter. I smile and hold her against me until she moves away and tosses me the keys to her car. I catch them easily before walking out to her car. We both get in and I drive back to my house.

Once we get there, Sarah leaves the car quickly and goes to my door. I follow after her, laughing a bit as I unlock the door and let Sarah in. She immediately goes and sits on the floor as my cats all come up to her.

The three of them always seem to know when someone is sad and will come and snuggle with sad person until they are happy. I smile at the cat pile on my friend before going into the kitchen and making a cup of hot cocoa for her.

Once the cocoa is finished, I put a large amount of whipped cream on it with some cocoa powder sprinkled on top and a candy cane in my hand. Sarah had moved to the couch and I set her cocoa and candy cane on the side table. She gives me a thankful smile and I nod, running upstairs. I pull out a fuzzy blanket and run back downstairs, covering her with it. I turn to the TV and turn it on before changing it to the input for the Bluray player. I go on Netflix before handing her the remote. “You go ahead and choose what you want.”

She looks at me with thanks in her eyes, and I go to the kitchen, making some comfort food for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS I PROMISE THAT THIS IS A SANSXREADER! OKAY? I SWEAR!
> 
> Anyways.
> 
> Yes Sansy is in a relationship. Please don't leave. XD
> 
> Leave a comment and a kudos if you so wish! Thank you so much for reading!


	7. In Need of Comfort? Paps and Kat are Here to Help!

I start a pot of water in the kitchen, grabbing some boxed mac and cheese, and hear her start up Lilo and Stitch. A small smile plays along my lips and I sit back, waiting for the water to boil. It starts to boil and I stick the pasta into the pot and start a timer, stirring it every so often. The pasta finishes and I strain it, before putting it back in the pot and stirring in the cheese packet.

Two bowls are filled up with the cheesy delight and I walk out to the living room again. Sarah is highly engrossed in the movie, and I set her bowl down on the table, making sure not to obscure her view. I sit down beside her, and eat my bowl of delicious cheesey pasta. Sarah notices her bowl and reaches over, picking it up. She shoots me a grateful smile before moving her attention to the food.

We finish our food in peace and are sitting there, Sarah having chosen another movie to watch. Suddenly, there’s a knock on the door. Sarah looks up and blinks. I stand up with a grunt before making my way to the door, the knocking have never ceased. When I open the door, a fist is suddenly knocking on my forehead and I grip the door handle. “OH MY! I AM SO SORRY!” A loud, familiar voice says.

I look over at the big, lovable doof in front of me. “It’s alright Papyrus. What’s up?”

“OH! YOU LEFT YOUR CLOTHES AT OUR HOUSE! I WAS BRINGING THEM BACK FOR YOU!” He smiles brightly and hands me my backpack with my clothes folded up on top of it. “HERE YOU GO!” He hands me the backpack. 

I take it with a smile and move back from the door, moving to close it. Papyrus looks in and catches eyes with Sarah, and he smiles widely. “HELLO MISS!”

I look back to see Sarah looking at Papyrus, her cheeks a bit rosy. “H-Hello.” She says. “You’re Papyrus, right?”

Papyrus nods and smiles brightly, Sarah’s cheeks seem to turn a bit redder. “YES I AM!” His voice lowers. “Are you alright?”

“Uh, Kat, can you let him in?” Sarah asks.

I blink before nodding, moving out of the doorway, waving a hand to let Paps in. I close the door behind him as he makes a beeline to the couch, sitting down on it next to her. I look over at the two of them, my eyebrow quirked up. I sit down on Sarah’s other side and lean back, pulling out my phone and scroll through Tumblr really quick to check to see if I have anyone that I need to reply to in my messages, as the two of them start to chat.

Sarah is stuttery and awkward at first but seems to feed off of Papy’s energy. I put down my phone after a minute and watch the two of them, Sarah becoming more like herself after each passing minute. A smile plays along my lips happily as I watch the two of them interact. It seems that Sarah is being artfully distracted from her mother’s death. I know it won’t last that long, but it’s good to see her smiling and having fun. Even if I know it’ll pass after a while. I’m at least happy she’s okay for now.

Sarah notices me staring, giving me a small smile. “Hey, Kat?”

“Hm?” I blink, quirking an eyebrow.

“I… I think we should go for a walk…” She says, slowly.

My eyes fly open, since usually it takes a few hours sometimes even a day before she wants to get up and move. My eyes fly to Papyrus who is grinning brightly at me, before looking back at Sarah. “Y-Yes! O-Of course! L-let me… Uh... “ I find myself blinking a couple of times, _Kat, these aren’t fucking words. Look. Just say you have to go get shoes real quick. Easy._ “I have to go get shoes read quick. Yeah.” I mentally high-five myself before running up the stairs to go get some shoes.

As I pull on my socks, I think. _Paps is a fucking miracle worker or something. Fuck. Okay. Mental note: ‘Keep Paps around forever. Unless he leaves lik-’ NOPE WE’RE NOT GOING IN THAT FUCKING DIRECTION RIGHT NOW! OKAY! ALRIGHT!_ I let out a little laugh and pull on my shoes, before jogging downstairs.

Sarah is standing next to Papyrus by the door, the cats sitting on the couch and they seem to be smiling almost. I walk over to them and give them a some scratches under their chin, smiling warmly at them. Taco meows softly at me, Dresden purrs like a fucking motorboat, and Crookshanks headbutts my hand, as if to motion me to the door. A small laugh escapes my mouth and I turn to the other two with a smile. “Alright! Let’s go!” I grin.

Papyrus grins widely with me before throwing open the door and walking out. Sarah follows behind him, and I exit last, closing and locking the door behind me. Paps walks down to the sidewalk, the two of us following behind him.

We start our walk, and I’m not quite sure where we are going, but Sarah is holding my hand and following behind Paps. My grip on her hand tightens a bit as I keep pace with her, occasionally flicking my eyes over to look at her. She looks deep in thought so I opt not to say anything, instead just holding her hand gently.

After a few minutes of walking we’re in front of an ice cream shop. Paps opens the door and Sarah hesitates before entering. I follow behind her, smiling warmly at Paps as I do. He gives me a knowing smile, and from that smile I have an urge to hug the tall monster and figure out why the fuck he knows how to help someone with this. Sarah pulls me into the little shop before I can say anything to Paps.

Paps follows, smiling brightly as optimistic as always, and I feel like the look he had sent me was just a figment of my imagination. I sum it up to that and Sarah pulls me to the counter, a small smile on her face as she looks at the menu. There’s a blue bunny rabbit manning the counter and they smile brightly at us. “Hello! Welcome to Coldstones!”

Sarah smiles back and walks up. “I’ll have a double scoop of strawberry cheesecake on a cone, please.”

“And for you, ma’am?” He looks at me.

“Ah, I think I’ll pass.” I say with a smile.

The bunny nods a bit and turns to Paps. “And for you, sir?”

“I WOULD LIKE A DOUBLE SCOOP OF MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP ON A CHOCOLATE DIPPED CONE!” Paps says excitedly.

The bunny nods and rings every up. I set down the correct amount of cash before anyone can protest, ignoring the two saying something about me not getting anything to eat and paying. I shrug before putting the change in the tip jar along with a couple extra bucks. I’m by no means rich in any sense of the word, but I do have a lot of savings from when I was younger and had quite a few jobs to help support my family. 

The bunny hands Paps and Sarah their ice cream and they move to sit down. I follow after them, sitting down in the empty chair. They eat their ice cream happily, both of them occasionally giving me some, aka practically forcing the ice cream to my face and wouldn’t move it until I ate some.

Let me tell you that mint chocolate chip and strawberry cheesecake is a very odd combo that kind of works but doesn’t at the same time.

We leave after they finish up with their ice cream, and I follow along with them, smiling when I see Sarah laughing a bit, slightly back to her usual self.

Paps leads us over to an antique store, opening the door once again so Sarah and I could go in, him following behind us.

It seems to be a monster antique shop, run by what looks like an old turtle. His grin greets us and I can almost feel the joy radiating off of him. His smile is infectious so I respond with his with one of my own, following Sarah around, hands in my pockets.

Paps had made a bee-line to a shelf of what looked like action figures, his entire profile brightening at the different ones. The old turtle goes over to him and talks to him, so I figure they were probably friends, or at least knew each other.

I return my focus over to Sarah to see her holding a pair of pearl earrings. They look brand-new. “Oh wow.” I mutter softly, leaning a bit closer.

There’s a small sniffle in my ear, causing me to jump, pull my hands out of my pocket, and wrap my arms around Sarah, mostly because I was freaked out than anything else. Sarah turns in my arms and hides her face in my shoulder, shuddering and crying. I rest a hand against the back of her head, crouch a bit and pick the smaller girl up in my arms.

Her sobs grow louder, getting the attention of Paps and the turtle. I nuzzle Sarah’s head gently. “Sweetie, do you want to get those earrings?” She nods slightly so I move over to the turtle, “Can I get these earrings for my friend?”

The turtle looks between us, his happiness having faded a bit. “Sure.”

“How much?” I ask, maneuvering carefully to pull my wallet out of my purse.

A hand stops me and I look up to see Paps smiling almost sadly at me. “I can pay for it.” He says softly.

I blink up at him and nod a bit. Paps pays for the earrings and a few action figures before leading us outside. Sarah has quieted down, but has not made a move to tell me to put her down, so I keep a hold of her.

Paps and I walk almost silently to my house, and when I unlock my door he says, “Well, I best be off hu-”

“NO! Wait!” Sarah suddenly shouts, lifting her head from my shoulder and kind of pushing me away by accident. 

Luckily, my back was too the door so I don’t fall backwards against the concrete. Sarah scrambles out of my arms, tears still kind of falling out of her eyes. She runs over to Paps, tackling him into a hug.

Somehow, even though he’s literally just a fucking skeleton, he has better balance than I do, since he stays upright, hugging Sarah back. “Human?”

“Thank you…” I barely hear Sarah murmur.

“What for?” Paps asks.

“Getting her out of the house.” I say softly. “She normally is stuck for at least an entire day in one place, only getting up for necessity. I dunno what you said to her to help her get up, but whatever it was, thanks. From both of us.” I walk over to them and wrap my arms around both of them, squeezing a bit.

Paps hugs us back and I can’t see it but I can feel his grin. “NYEH! IT’S BECAUSE I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NO TASK IS TOO HARD FOR ME!” He says excitedly.

I laugh, letting the two of them go. “Hey, want to hang out with us for a bit more?” I ask him, Sarah nodding along with me after letting go of Paps.

Papyrus puts his hands to either side of his skull, gasping. “WOWIE! REALLY?”

“Yep!” I say, walking to my front door, opening it.

Sarah bolts through again, her long blonde hair flowing behind her. She hops onto the couch, the cats swarming to her again. Paps comes up and I shut the door a bit, looking at him. “I seriously don’t know what you did. Her mom died and, hell, I wasn’t expecting her to get up until the day of the funeral, cept to use the bathroom and stuff.” I let out a breath. “So, how do you know how to help her so well?”

Paps looks at me, the same knowing smile on his face. “Well, it’s not my tale to tell, but my brother gets the same way, but without anyone dying.” He says quietly.

I blink and look up at him. I stare at him before nodding with a smile, and opening the door again, Paps walking into the room. I stare at his back, with a determined face.

_I need to help this poor baby and whoever hurt him and his fucking brother._

I send a mental middle finger to whoever made these two baby’s lives shit.

 _I’m gonna kill you… Unless you’re already dead… Then I’m gonna kill you again… So you’re extra dead. Hah! FIGHT ME BITCH!_ I laugh to myself before walking into the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know where I was really going with this chapter. It just happened. Sorry if it seems awkward at all. Oops. I wasn't rushing myself, I was just writing. Though maybe this is how all my writing is. Damn. Okay then.
> 
> Real quick, if it seems Sarah's grief for her mom's death is weird, cause she is being distracted by Papy and Kat, I apologize. I know it's not for the whole chapter she's distracted from it, but still, it may seem a bit weird for some people.
> 
> And Paps may seem like a bit outta character, but I have a little headcannon where he knows that he's his brother's last hope (hah not like just cause Sansy has 1 HP but that would make sense...) so he's always optimistic. I mean, he's always optimistic, but he makes sure to be his brother's "light" of sorts that keeps his bro going. So he knows how to help people like that. I dunno, it's my own shitty little headcannon. Kinda plays a lot into this story, actually.
> 
> Anyways. Sorry I've been gone for a bit. I haven't had much motivation to write as of late. I've also scrapped this chapter about three times before I was kinda okay with the outcome. The beginning is a bit rocky for me but I couldn't figure out a better way for Papy to enter the scene that I liked, but like yeahhh. Sorry for the bit of a break. I've been working on some summer reading shit too, I start school in 4 days this is grrrrrrreat. I wanna die. FUCK I FINISHED THE SUMMER READING BULLSHIT! FUCK YEAH!
> 
> So chapters should still go up when i get motivation to write and stuff, just like, it might have long breaks like this too. Cause like school and that bullshit. But heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, education, right? Anyways.
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter! <3
> 
> Leave a comment and/or kudos if you want. You know, same stuff I say all the time. You get the drill. But I still say it cause force of habit.


	8. Step One to a Good Friendship

It had been a few hours since we got back. I had brought down some coloring books, paper, pencils, and crayons. Paps and Sarah were sitting on the floor drawing and coloring. I felt a bit like a mother, sitting on the couch with my cats curled on my lap and around me, watching over the two of them. It’s a nice form of silence, even though you could hear pencils and crayons against paper and the turning of pages.

Everyone jumps at the sound of the door being knocked on. I stand up and Dresden, the kitty on my lap, jumping onto the floor. There are another series of knocks on the door before I get there and I open the door, jerking a bit at the person in front of me.

Their face doesn’t click with me immediately and it’s really not until Sarah says: “Nathaniel!” that I realize who it is.

And I’m still frozen in place, breath caught in my throat, when Sarah comes over, looking at her brother. She bumps into me, which knocks me out of my stupor. I take a step back so Sarah can get past me, walking to her bro. “Bye Paps! Bye Kat!” She says, a smile on her face, before going into her brother’s car.

I left out a breath and close the door, looking over at Paps. He’s looking at me oddly, in the middle of cleaning up the coloring stuff. “Oh! You don’t have to do that! I got it.” I say with a smile, shutting the door and walking over to help him.

Paps eyes me again and then smiles brightly. “WELL, I WANT TO HELP! IF THAT IS OKAY WITH YOU?”

I blink before nodding, a small smile gracing my lips. “Sure, Paps, I don’t mind. I just didn’t want you thinking you had to help me clean up was all.”

He grins, but says nothing, gathering a bunch of drawings he did in his arms. I gather everything else, bringing it upstairs and setting everything in their proper place. When I come back downstairs, Paps is speaking to someone on the phone, a frown pulling at his face.

_Which is odd to see because you’d think a skeleton would be smiling or have a grin on their face due to bone structure. Or maybe it’d just be a straight face… Shit, concentrate._

I try not to listen to the conversation, but I can’t help it when Paps exclaims, “HE DID WHAT?”

I hear another voice, that sounds mildly like Alphys, but I may be wrong on that fact. I don’t catch anything she says, but I walk over to Paps, setting a hand on his shoulder. He looks over at me. “Everything okay?” I ask in a hushed voice.

Paps eyes me before shaking his head. “ALPHYS, I’LL BE OVER IN FIVE MINUTES! MAKE SURE HE DOESN’T DO ANYTHING ELSE STUPID.” He hangs up his phone, stuffing it into his pants pocket. “Sans is injured. Alphys says he told her that he got hurt using a machine. But the bruises didn’t seem like something that would’ve come from a machine. I need to go and heal him.” Paps says.

“Bruises..?” I ask.

“Yes, human.” He makes his way to the door. “Thank you for having me over. I do hope we can hang out more some time.” He opens the door.

“WAIT!” I shout, stumbling over to the door and slipping my feet into my shoes. “I… I’m going with you.” I say, determination in my eyes. “I may not know your bro all that well, but I consider you as a friend, so I want to make sure that everything is okay… Plus…” I tug on my sneaker, “I think I saw something this morning, so if you don’t mind me coming with, I want to be a bit of ‘research’ persay.”

Paps looks at me. “ARE YOU A SCIENTIST TOO?”

“No, I wish I was. Science was one of my favorite subjects in school. But some stuff happened and I wasn’t able to pursue my dreams.”

Paps nods before opening the door and leaving. I follow behind him, closing and locking my door behind me. Paps walks down to his house, me following behind him, and gets into a vibrant red sports car. He pats the passenger's seat with a grin and I get in, buckling in. He pulls out of the driveway, before speeding down the road, at the speed limit it’s just been a bit since I’ve been in a car that had no roof.

I cling to the seat and shut my eyes tightly. In what seems like seconds, but was actually minutes, we’re in front of a building. I open my eyes when we stop, spotting the tall building, that looks terrifying. Almost like a friendly giant, or like a friend who’s a lot taller than you and seems mildly scary because of their height, but is really a sweetheart. I know the building can’t hurt me like the friend, but that doesn’t make just the first look a bit scary. Too bad the building can’t make a joke or something to make me laugh and lighten the mood.

Pesky inanimate objects not being able to make silly jokes.

I snap out of my stupid internal thoughts as Paps gets out of the car. I get out as well and we walk to the front of the building. Paps presses the buzzer and someone comes out. I don’t recognize them, but they recognize Paps. They usher him in and put a hand out to me. “You can-”

“SHE’S WITH ME.” Paps says. “LET HER IN.”

The person looks at Paps, then me before sighing and letting me walk in. I walk up to Paps and he walks down the hallway in front of us. There are doors littering either side of the us, randomly there are lights on and in a few I can see humans and monsters interacting together, doing sciency things. I can’t really see much of what they’re doing, since Paps is walking fast and I have to double my usual pace to keep up with him. Since he’s a friendly giant.

The hallway seems to never end, the darkness at the end always present. Well, that is until we get to a door at the end of the hallway. Down to this area there were security officers standing around, probably to make sure that nobody unauthorized entered the area. Luckily, the man at the front gave me a sticker so I could put it on my shirt, saying that I could enter. I figured Paps was known enough that the security would just let him in.

Paps goes to the door and nods to the security guard standing there, before entering the room and shutting the door behind him. I hear a whooshing sound, most like a sterilizing room of sorts, and another door open. The security guard looks at me, looking at my sticker before nodding. “Go ahead. Just don’t touch anything. You’ll need to put on a mask and a coat. Stand still in the sterilization room.” He says.

I nod before opening the door and entering the room. It’s pure white and there are marks in the middle for someone to stand. I move to the marks and stand still. A screen appears in front of me, asking me to type out my name and pick my species. I do so and it asks me to hold out my arms, I do that too. A wash of warm mist washes over me and I’m told to step forward in. I do so and a robotic arm hands me a coat and a mask. I tug the coat on and grab the mask, putting it on as well. The next door opens and I exit through it.

Paps is waiting outside, wearing a coat, but no mask. He nods to me before walking to a room with a sign above it that reads: “Break room.” He opens the door and steps inside, me following behind him.

There sits Sans and Alphys, Sans with the same bluish discoloration on his skull that I saw this morning. In just about the same places too. The both look up at us and Paps walks over to his brother. Sans is staring at me in confusion. “Why’re you here?”

There’s no annoyance in his voice or snarkiness, just confusion. “Paps was with my when Alph called. I just tagged along since Paps seemed really sad.” My voice is muffled by the surgical mask on my face.

Paps looks at me in confusion, knowing that’s not the reason I told him, but he keeps his mouth shut. I let out an inaudible sigh of relief, but Sans stares at me skeptically. Alphys walks over to me and pulls me to the side. “K-Kat?”

“Mhmm?” I say, sticking my hands in the pockets of my lab coat, rocking back on my feet.

“Sans couldn’t have gotten the bruises from a machine.”

“I know. He had then when he got here, right?” I look at her, smiling under the mask.

She looks at me and nods. “Y-Yeah.”

“Yeah…” I say softly, my gaze trailing over to the two brothers. 

Sans catches my gaze and I grin at him, even though he can’t see it. “Hey, you don’t need to be getting all _blue_ because I’m here.” I say, giving him a wink.

He looks at me for a minute, and I panic a bit thinking I overstepped some line because it was a bad joke, but he laughs. “ _Icy_ what you did there.”

An unattractive snort escapes my mouth, and I look at Paps, whose eyes seem to be bugging out of his skull even though he doesn’t have eyeballs. This image makes me lose it, giggling helplessly.

I hear a few chuckles coming from Sans, and once I calm down enough, I say “That was _baaaaaaaaaaaaa-_ d and you know it, but it was still _sodium_ funny.”

“I was slapping me _neon_ that one.” Sans replies with a grin.

A grin tugs at my lips. “They put chromosomes in ads.” He looks at me, a bit confused. “Ya know. Cause sex cells.”

He blinks before chuckling. “NO MORE PUNS OR JOKES!” Paps yells.

I giggle. “Paps, there’s not reason to _overreact_.”

He throws up his hands, in mock annoyance, because I can see his smile and the way he’s trying to hide his laughs. Alphys is laughing quietly to herself, having moved to the counter and making some instant ramen. Sans is chuckling too, the blue from the bruises still very slightly apparent on his skull. Only if you were looking for them, however, and while everyone is doing something else I lean against the wall and think.

_He had those bruises when I left… Unless he somehow got them in his sleep or somehow when he woke up, the only person I know went into his room was Joy… So unless they were doing some freaky stuff in the bedroom which caused those bruises to happen, then… Well, I can’t make any assumptions about anything right now. It’s probably nothing._ I look at Sans, who’s grinning up at his brother lazily. _They were probably accidents… But… Maybe I’ll ask Joy about them… When I see her next… But it’s probably nothing._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weeeeee. Another chapter. *cracks knuckles*
> 
> Also! Anybody who reads my other story "The Therapist" and is here, I'm doing a bit of work on it. Trying to figure out how to fill up some plot holes and such. Bear with me. :3 Sorry about the delay in that story!
> 
> I know not everybody here does read that story, but in case you do and you're here too, I figured I would say something.
> 
> You guys are awesome!
> 
> Leave a comment and Kudos if you want. Same stuff as always. Thanksies!


	9. Step Two to a Good Frienship

Paps and I spend about ten more minutes in the room with Sans and Alphys. The three of them mostly talked, while I sat back and watched them interact. They seem to mostly talk about sciency stuff. Paps seems to be a lot smarter than most people would pin him being. My mask had to remain on, which might’ve been a blessing in disguise. That way they didn’t my small smiles at their conversation. I didn’t say much because I felt a little like an outsider and I wanted the think anyways.

Paps stands up and nods to me, with a smile. I stand as well, figuring it’s time to leave, and my figuring is confirmed when he moves to the door. I wave to the others, smiling a bit, letting the smile reach my eyes so they knew I was smiling. The two waved at us, and we walked through the door.

We leave through the same sterilization room, our coats getting stored and my mask disposed of. The security guard nods at us as we leave.

The corridor seems less intimidating from this side. The entrance to the building looks a lot friendlier than the back of the building.

We leave, most of the scientists on break, so they’re strolling the hall along with us, and some give me odd looks, probably because they’ve never seen me before, so I just ignore their looks. Paps and I exit the building and get into his red sports car again.

I buckle in and he does the same, gripping the steering wheel for a minute. I look over and frown. “Paps?”

“I…” Paps’s hands are shaking, it’s subtle by how hard he’s gripping the wheel, but I can see it.

“Paps..?” I set a hand over one of his. “Hun, what’s wrong?”

He stares at my hand covering his for a long moment. “Do you think you can drive my car..?”

“I should be able to. It’s like any other car, right?’ He nods before moving his hands off the steering wheel. “Why?”

“I need you to drive…” He says softly.

I nod before getting out of the passengers seat and move to the drivers side. He takes my place in the passenger's seat. I fix the seat and mirrors before pulling out of the parking spot. The drive is relatively silent, Paps saying directions every so often so I don’t get lost, but other than that he sits and fidgets with his gloves.

I pull into his driveway and frown a bit. “What’s wrong..?”

He gets out of the car and I follow behind him after a second of hesitation. I give him his keys and he thanks me quietly. Paps goes to his door and unlocks it, opening it after a second. I can see relief roll across his shoulders when nothing happens as soon as he opens the door. My eyebrow quirks up and he turns to look at me. “You can come in…” He says softly.

I nod and walk over to him. He moves and lets me enter the house. I frown at the sight that greets me.

It’s not the same house I was in this morning. It’s a lot messier, and there seems to be broken things on the floor. Paps closes the door behind us, locking it as well, before letting out a small sigh.

I stare at the mess a moment longer before rolling up my sleeves and gathering my hair up, pulling a pony tail around it. “Alright.” I mutter before gingerly moving around the broken things on the ground.

I get to the kitchen and check the cabinet under the sink. _Ahah! Trash bags! My family!_ I laugh to myself a bit before grabbing a few. I open one before walking to the living room again. Paps is still standing at the front door, staring at the mess sadly. 

“Hey, Paps?” He looks up at me and I grin. “Best way to clean up your mind is to clean up your house.” I hold up a trash bag.

He walks over, carefully avoiding the trash, before taking my offered bag. “Okay.”

His voice still isn’t the precious cinnamon roll voice I knew, so I pull out my phone and put on some cheerful music. He seems to brighten at that, just a bit, and I start to clean up. He cleans as well and seems to be in the same state of thinking, kind of mindlessly picking things up.

I continue to clean for the last of this song and as the second one starts I bounce along with the beat, shaking my hips. The lyrics start and I grin, starting to sing along with them, softly at first then progressively louder. Paps looks at me, and he’s smiling. A familiar song to him, at least I’m guessing it’s familiar to him, comes on and he starts off-key belting out the lyrics. I join him, my voice naturally falling into the tune.

The cleaning goes by much quicker it feels like, and once it’s done, I turn the music off and put my hands on my hips, grinning at the cleanliness of the room proudly. Paps is mimicking my expression and I lightly bump my hip against his. “Hey.”

He looks down at me with a wide smile. “YES, HUMAN?”

“If anything ever comes up wi-”

I’m interrupted by the door being basically thrown open by a very angry Joy. She looks at Paps and I, glaring. “What the fuck are you two doing?”

“Cleaning.” I say, looking at her with a frown.

Joy’s hair is a mess, her clothes seemingly having been put on hastily. I eye her up and down, the buttons on her shirt not in their proper holes. It’s almost as if she just came from next door or something and she was having sexual adventures with someone.

_I thought she was in a relationship with Sans… Maybe I’m just judging her…_ There’s a bad feeling in my stomach, almost like period cramps. To any man who is reading this, because I know at least one does, just imagine getting kicked in the dick. That’s about the amount of pain and lingering discomfort that period cramps give you. I mean, I don’t have a dick so I can’t be 100% sure that it’s accurate, but I feel like it is.

But, the discomfort of period cramps is basically what I feel, and what I’ve always felt around Joy. This is usually a sign of that person being not a good person. Sometimes it doesn’t, but most of the time it does.

My gut is telling me that something is wrong, but it’s not my relationship so I don’t push it.

“OI!” Joy snaps her fingers in my face. “I’M TALKING TO YOU!”

I blink out of my thinking and look at her. “Yes, your majesty. Do you need me to wipe your ass?” Those words came out of me before I could think about it, but I don’t take them back.

Joy’s frown turns sour and her eyes harden, I think she’s trying to look intimidating but it just looks funny to me. “Fuck you. What the hell are you doing here?”

“I told you, I was cleaning?”

“WHY THE FUCK WERE IN THE HOUSE?” She screams, agitated.

“Because Paps is my friend, you ass. He was having a rough day and I came over to hang out. Jesus woman. What the hell is up your ass?” My brows furrow, and I take a step back.

“You’re lying. You saw my boyfriend today!”

“Yes, I saw Sans today. Because Alphys called Paps to tell him ‘bout some bruises Sans had.” I spot a grin come across her lips, with a bit of panic in her eyes, before they turn concerned. “Paps went to heal him, and I tagged along for moral support.” I say softly.

“Bruises?” She asks innocently.

“Yeah, he came into the lab with them, according to Alph. You wouldn’t happen to know where he got them, would you?” I ask.

She shakes her head, and very expertly starts to fidget, like she’s concerned. It seemed too over exaggerated. Paps seems to fall for it, or at least act like he falls for it, and comforts her.

“OH, IT’S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT, JOY. I HEALED HIM RIGHT UP. HE SHOULD BE FINE.” Paps says, with a smile.

“Oh, thank god.” She says with a sigh of relief. “Paps, can I stay here and wait for him to come home?”

Paps nods, and I watch him to see if I can see anything that would entail that he’s faking it, but I see nothing but genuine concern for the bitch. I almost want to reach out and tell him she’s faking it, but I stop myself, not wanting to be wrong about what I think. I could just be overthinking this like I normally do.

Paps looks at me and smiles. “Kat, would you mind leaving? Joy wants to talk to me privately.”

“Oh! No problem, Papy. Call or text me if you need anything, kay?” I smile brightly to him, picking up my phone.

Paps nods and I leave the house, closing the door behind me. Out of the corner of my eye I see a man with only underwear on, on the balcony of the house next door to the skelebros. He spots me and his face turns red.

I continue to eye him, my bad vision not aiding me much, but I think I see red lipstick, same shade that was on Joy’s lips, on his neck. But that was a common shade of lipstick, so maybe I’m just overthinking. I nod to the guy and yell up, “Dude, nice abs.”

He stares at me, his face heating up even more, before nodding. I salute up to him before shoving my hands in my pockets and walking along the path to my house.

_Okay, so never going to talk to that neighbor again because I think I just made it realllllly awkward between us. Kay. Got it. Wooooooooooo. Alright._ I think, biting my tongue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, sorry for the lateness of this chapter! I started school about 4 days ago. And I meant to write, but my study hall was bullshit and the teacher wouldn't let me listen to music (which helps me study) and I was going to write on paper, but he would walk around and check at what you were doing and I didn't need that. Anyways, I won't be able to write in school this semester, but I did get out of that study hall and now I help people with their math homework! Yay!
> 
> Dunno why you guys needed to know that, but anyways. Skyrim also distracted me.
> 
> Also! I made a shitty little Tumblr for my art stuff. I haven't posted anything yet, cause like... I just need to do it, but lazy. But here's the link if you wanna go there. See my shit if I post anything there. https://www.tumblr.com/blog/taba-writes-and-draws
> 
> Anyways, I dunno when the next chapter will be up, but soon. sorry if this one is shittty, I tried guys. I didn't force myself to write, I'm just like trying to post this before my friend goes to sleep so he can read it. >~>
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed it! Leave a comment or kudos if you wish. Blah blah. Usual shit.
> 
> You guys rock!


	10. Oh Boy

I haven’t heard from Paps in three days. Three days. I haven’t even seen him anywhere. I’ve randomly seen his car driving down the road, so there are glimpses of his pristine white skull and red scarf he’s always wearing.

But he hasn’t talked to me. Why not?

 _He forgot about you. You’re not important. He was just being nice. He doesn’t really care. You put too much effort into the friendship and scared him off. Good job._ My brain supplies.

I frown and glare at my hands, muttering, “fuck off brain. You’re a cunt. If he didn’t want to spend time with me why would he let me come along with him to see his brother?”

_You’re the one who forced him to take you._

I blink and frown. “Did I really?” I curse and look up.

_Yep. Good job Katrina. Another friend down the drain. Want to go find someone else to scare off?_

I shake my head, and press the heels of my hands to my temples. “Stop.” I mutter.

My mind continues to go on, and I feel tears coming to my eyes as my hands move, fingers going into my hair, and nails digging into my scalp.

Then my phone dings.

I jerk, my hands ripped from my hair, pulling a few strands out, as I grab my phone. I look at the screen and frown at the notification from Tumblr sitting there. It’s from a user I don’t regularly contact, so I open the message.

It’s…

_HELLO! I APOLOGIZE FOR MY LACK OF COMMUNICATIONS WITH YOU FOR THESE PAST FEW DAYS! I LOST MY PHONE, OR SOMETHING, AND HAVE JUST GOTTEN A NEW ONE! I DO HOPE YOU’LL FORGIVE ME! I REMEMBERED YOUR TUMBLY ACCOUNT AND WANTED TO GET YOUR NUMBER AGAIN! I WOULD’VE CAME OVER BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO SURPRISE YOU! SINCERELY, THE GREAT PAPYRUS._

_P.S. MY PHONE NUMBER IS XXX-XXX-XXXX IF YOU WANT TO TEXT ME AGAIN! WE HAVE SO MUCH TO CATCH UP ON!_

A sigh of relief rips through my system and I type his new number into my phone. I shoot him a text saying hey and that it’s Kat. Also adding that he could come over right now if he wanted to.

I don’t get a response, so I shove my phone in my back pocket. There’s a knock on the door and I walk over to it, throwing it open with a wide smile.

It’s Joy.

My smile fades. 

Her blonde hair is in a messy bun, her blue-grey eyes looking almost black. Her makeup is applied as heavily as ever, and her eyeliner uneven. Her arms are crossed, a crop top and booty shorts on, with a pair of sandals.

“Good evening, Joy.” I say coolly.

Her eyes narrow. “Hello, Kat.”

“What is it that you need?”

“What makes you think I need something?” She frowns.

I eye her. “You knocked on my door.”

There’s a weird crash sound in my house and I turn around. There’s a man standing in my living room, a man I know. “LOGAN WHAT THE FUCK?”

My brother looks at me, before grinning and running upstairs to his room. I turn back to Joy, my eye twitching. “You have five minutes to tell me what the fuck you want before I punch your face.”

“Stay away from my boyfriend and his brother. Whatever you’re plotting won’t work.” She spits at my feet.

I blink before slamming the door in her face. I sigh and turn to the stairs, carefully walking over to the broken window my brother decided to jump through, and I tape a sheet to it. I pick up the glass and vacuum it up before going upstairs.

My brother is sitting at his desk, playing video games.

“Logan.” I say, softly.

He looks up at me with a big goofy grin. “Yeah?”

“What did you do?”

His grin just widens. “Got kicked outta the dorms!”

I stare at him silently and he stares back. There's another knock on the door and I sigh. “I have a friend coming over now. Stay here. I’ll deal with you later.” I walk down the stairs after closing his door.

“I’M THE OLDER BROTHER! I SHOULD BE TELLING YOU WHAT TO-” He starts.

“FUCKING IF YOU’RE THE OLDER BROTHER. ACT LIKE IT! DON’T BE A FUCKING IDIOT.” I shout, cutting him off.

He stays silent and I go downstairs, rubbing my temples at the insistent pounding on the door. I open it and look up to see Paps. “Hey Paps…”

“HELLO FRIEND!” Paps days energetically, with a bright smile.

A small smile pulls at my lips. “Heya. I would offer for you to come in, but my brother just got home and is being a little bitch, wanna go out to the park or something?”

Paps nods.

“OI! LOGANNA! DON’T DESTROY ANYTHING! WELL ANYTHING ELSE! I’LL BE BACK IN A BIT!” I yell up to him.

“I FUCKING HATE YOU!” I hear.

“LOVE YOU TOO!” I look over to Paps. “Shall we?”

He stares at me oddly before moving out of the doorway. I pull on some boots, grabbing my purse, before exiting the house, shutting, and locking the door behind me. I pull my keys out of my purse and unlock my car.

It’s not the nicest of cars, a hand-me-down from my dad who didn’t need his Prius anymore. It couldn’t tow around his tiny house, he needed a manly pick-up truck. There are still stickers littered over the back of the car.

There’s a familiar beep to tell me the car had been unlocked and I open the door, flinching at the scent. Smelled like old pizza and stale spilled soda. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be any spilled soda that I could see or leftover pizza boxed, but the scent was still there. I huff and turn to my brother’s car, unlocking it, pull out the air freshener in there, lock the car again, and out the air freshener in the Prius.

Paps is standing back, fidgeting a bit. I turn to him. “You okay?”

He nods and moves to the passenger's side, opening the door, then sitting down in the seat. I got into the driver's side and Pap’s face was pleasantly surprised. “Thought you wouldn’t fit?” I ask, adjusting the seat and mirrors.

“WOWIE! I WAS BUT I HAVE EXTRA LEGROOM!” He says with a bright smile.

“If you pull the lever down at the base of the seat, you can adjust where the seat is. By scooting back or up. I’m thinking it’s scooted all the way back because Logan there had to haul around a computer tower back and forth between his classes. Cause he builds computers.” I say, watching Paps fiddle with the seat. “Ready?”

Paps nods energetically and I push the button to start the car. The familiar hum pulls a smile to my face as I buckle into my seat and pull out of the driveway. “Got anywhere specific you want to go?”

“Somewhere quiet, and private. Weird things have been happening…” Paps says quietly.

I blink before nodding. “I got it, there’s an area in the park nobody ever goes to. That work?”

He nods and I drive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, I'm not back for good. I just have been writing on my phone. If you see any like mistakes there, I apologizeeee. Lemme know and I'll try to fix them when I get the chance. Also, apparently dumb me accidentally deleted the previous chapter, so if you didn't see that, I broke my computer and can only write on my phone comfortably. So like, yeah. Chapters are gonna be coming out slowly. Plus school and stuff. (But friends have been helping out a lot so thank you to them. I know one reads this fucking story, hopefully none of the others do... Eyyyyyyyy.)
> 
> I'm so hyped up on coffee right now. IT IS 10:31 PM I SHOULD BE ASLEEP FUCKING WHY! OH YEAH! CAUSE I FORGOT I HAD COFFEE AND FUCKING JUST I STARTED TO CHUG IT BECAUSE I AIN'T DUMPING IT OUT. THAT'S COFFEE ABUSE! HOW DARE! 
> 
> Anyways. One thing I did dooo, is I drew like the characters. Eyyy. Cause I dunno how to describe people, ehhhhhhh. It's over on my tumblr. Or as Paps lovingly calls it "Tumbly"
> 
> Which I need to be cannon for everything.
> 
> Anyways.
> 
> Uh here. You have this. 
> 
> I'm going to go to bed, I dunno when. Hopefully soon cause I have school tomorrow and I need the sleeep. HAH.
> 
> Okay. I'm gonna go like do something or something.
> 
> Leave a comment or Kudos if you wish. Never ever gonna forceee youu! Bye bye!


	11. Noteeeee I APOLOGIZEEEEE!

Heyyyyyyy.

So uh

Yeeeahhhh.

I apologize for not writing more.

I have no excuse.

I've been writing something else with my best friendddd annnnddd just been pooring my heart and soul into it.

I apologize for not writing more of thiisss

Aaaaahhh!

I'll try to get back to it asap.

Maybe not this weekend, maybe not like this coming week. Cause. School.

Unm.

I do plan on continuing this, I know cause I've started the next chapter and I have it all planned out just need to finish itttt!

I APOLOGIZE!

BUT IF YOU WANNA READ THE SHIT ME AND MY BESTIE ARE WRITINGG YOU CAN LIKE SEE IT CAUSE IT'LL BE ON THE THINGY! WE'RE SHIPPING OUR KIDS AND LIKE IT'S GREAT BUT HORRIBLE AT THE SAME TIME! YOU DUN HAFTA LOOK AT IT BUT LIKE IT'S MY FAVORITE THING AND I LOVE WRITING WITH HIM CAUSE ITS JUST REALLY FUCKING FUN! AAAAAAAA!

Anyways, I promise the next chapter will be up maybe soon? I'm still laptop-less but I'll try my besttttt.

THANK YOU FOR BEING PATIENT WITH MY FAT ASS! IM SORRY IT'S TAKING SO LONG!

I'M SORRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYY!

AAAAAAH!

I'm going to go and stop screaming now. Sorry so much. Since I'm so like slowwww! I'll try to get the next chapter up this week depending on how much homework I have.

BYEEEEEE!


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